Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Every year on 24 February I think back to 1996 when I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras with my friends Jeff and James. Jeff was the perfect person to guide two Gap year kids around the Crescent City. He'd lived there for years as a student, policeman, social worker and cook at the legendary club Tipitina's.

I remember being impressed that after our 14 hour drive from Charleston, SC, where we worked together, he swiftly found us a backstreet parking spot and led us immediately to a parade that had just begun.

I may have imagined this but I vaguely remember Jeff telling me that he served Professor Longhair his last meal at Tipitina's the night he died in 1980. I'm no expert but no one seems to embody the spirit of New Orleans' melting-pot music as much as Fess. These two tracks are from his 1978 concert at the New London Theatre - just the Prof at a grand piano accompanied by conga player Alfred 'Uganda' Roberts.

Sunday, 22 February 2009

In January I started a series of posts called State Songs with six tracks about Alabama. I am taking a hugely enjoyable trip through all 50 states in alphabetical order trying to add at least one more each week.

I'll be updating this page with links to every state I 'visit' on my musical tour with a list of the artists featured. You'll have to read the posts to hear which particular tracks I've chosen.

Feel free to suggest songs I've omitted or ones that I shouldn't miss out in future posts. We'll be in Wyoming by Christmas!

Saturday, 21 February 2009

When I think of Connecticut my mind is completely blank. It holds no associations for me whatsoever so I knew this selection would be a challenge. I'd not heard of any of these tracks until last week so prepare yourself for the most random selection of songs on the journey so far.

We're in Desperate Housewives/Mad Men territory here with philandering fellas in the Big Apple cheating on their suburban wives who might also be enjoying a bit on the side. Carly enlisted eight producers to make her 1985 Spoiled Girl album including Don Was and Phil Ramone. It was a flop.More Carly Simon: official site | Amazon | 7digital

Tuesday, 17 February 2009

There's never been a solid, revealing and well-written book about Tom Waits, so Barney Hoskyns' superb new biography, Lowside of the Road, is a tome I'd been waiting to read for more than a decade and devoured in a day.

The challenge facing anyone wanting to delve into Tom Waits' life and work is that he and his wife Kathleen Brennan have built a "wall of inaccessibility" around themselves and their close associates. The book has an appendix of emails the author received from potential interviewees happy to speak to him until the Waits/Brennan camp effectively gagged them and in the prologue Hoskyns asks himself whether he "has the right" to probe into Waits' life.

Thankfully Hoskyns' pressed on and the resulting 600 pages is as illuminating, amusing and heartening a portrait of a musician you could hope to read. Naturally it's rich with anecdotes. These are some I enjoyed alongside musical accompaniment.

"Childhood is very important to me a a writer" quotes Hoskyns and that's rarely more evident than in this track. Kentucky Avenue is the street in Whittier, California where Waits grew up. The song, from Blue Valentine, namechecks a number of Waits' childhood associates. The leg braces which Waits says he'll cut off with a hacksaw belonged to his best friend Kipper who had polio. The steak knife wielding Mrs Storm (a real person) also crops up in Spidey's Wild Ride from Orphans.

Waits moved from Whittier to San Diego after his dad, Frank, left the family home. Here he became a fixture of the local folk music scene when he worked as the doorman at the Heritage coffee shop in Mission Beach. Guy Clark's song recalls Waits "in a pork-pie hat and silver skates/juggling three collection plates".

In the 70s Tom Waits shared the same manager as Frank Zappa - the infamous Herb Cohen (who wouldn't talk to Hoskyns unless the author brought a tube of Bath Olivers for him from London). Waits supported Zappa on a few tours and had to put up with incredibly hostile audiences who only wanted to see the Mothers of Invention. Listen to Stinkfoot and you'll hear Frank's gentle poke at TW.

One of the joys of Hoskyns' book for me was getting a glimpse into how the albums were made, especially those with weird instrumentation. On Singapore, the opener to Rain Dogs, percussionist Michael Blair is whacking a chest drawers. Waits recalled that, "On the last bar of the song the whole piece of furniture collapsed and there was nothing left of it. That's what I think of when I hear that song. I see the pile of wood and it excites me."

There are many more stories to thrill and delight any Tom Waits fan in the book. I notice that this week's Time Out has even pilfered one as it recalls that Waits drank in the Island Queen in Islington on his first visit to London in 1976. Good choice Tom.

Thursday, 5 February 2009

I could post dozens of songs just about Los Angeles or San Francisco before even thinking about the rest of the state. Instead these are just a handful of my favourite California songs. By all means point out my omissions in the comments below and I'll tell you if it's a song I'd already thought of.

I'm trying to up the soul quotient at the Carnival Saloon and Joanne suggested this track as we rifled through our CDs looking for state songs. I feel bad for not including Joni Mitchell's California for her too but we'll hear from Joni once we get to Iowa.More Marlena:MySpace | Amazon | 7digital

There are some people for whom excellent weather, an abundance of fruit and the Terminator as your state's governor aren't things to stick around for. Perhaps Jolie Holland is among their number.More Jolie Holland: | MySpace |Amazon7digital

Someone else who wanted an exit from the Golden State. Guy Clark does a wonderful intro to this on stage. Apparently the final straw was when the landlord he "couldn't stand" chopped down the fruit tree outside the Clarks' window.More Guy Clark:official site | Amazon | 7digital

Next time you'll need to prepare for possible altitude sickness - we're heading for the mountains of Colorado.

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A Note About The Songs

MP3s are posted for a limited time with the aim of encouraging visitors to discover music they've never heard. If you like what you hear please buy more from the artist and go to their gigs. I always post links to purchase next to an MP3 link. If you represent an artist or a label and would prefer that I remove a link to an MP3, please email me at carnivalsaloon @ gmail.com and I will immediately delete the file.